The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Leszek Borysiewicz, has condemned the actions of the occupiers of the Old Schools.

In a statement released yesterday, Borysiewicz said that “The occupiers assert that the protest was peaceful and non-violent. This has not been entirely the case”.

He listed a number of criticisms of the Old Schools occupiers, claiming that they “risked injury to themselves and others”, and detailed a number of events that he held to be examples of this, such as the noise protest and the smashing of a window. The Vice-Chancellor said that each of these events had brought about an evacuation of rooms in the Old Schools.

Borysiewicz claims that the lack of dialogue between the occupation and the University was the fault of the occupiers, as “The conditions they imposed did not allow for open dialogue or debate”. He said that the students did not ask for dialogue, but rather issued demands, and that the University “can not engage, under threat, with members of the University breaking University regulations and the law of the land, and we did not do so”.

The Vice-Chancellor had come under criticism for being unwilling to make a statement on the protests, or the fees and cuts that provoked them.

The statement also claims that “The direct costs so far of the occupation have exceeded 50,000 pounds, and indirect costs, which are currently being estimated, are likely to be far in excess of that sum”.

A University spokesperson refused to comment on this figure further for security reasons, but suggested that factors such as the increased security requirements contributed to the costs. During the occupation, the University was forced to hire agency security guards, in order to keep up the twenty-four hour presence at the Old Schools site.

The specific reasons for the high estimated costs remain unclear.

Rahul Mansigani, president of CUSU, said that though the statement portrayed itself as factual, "it misrepresents many events and is considerably one-sided". Mansigani drew attention to the fact that the occupiers immediately raised funds to pay for the broken window, and that while the Vice-Chancellor spoke of the concern of staff that a degree ceremony was disrupted, this took place with "absolutely no disruption".

He said that the occupiers had make clear that "they had no intention of disrupting the academic work of the University".

He also expressed surprise at the statement's estimate of the cost of the occupation.